GRIPES, LOL
1. At one time item descriptions sounded like they came from flesh and blood sellers. Now they sound like they were composed by AI bots: "This (insert name of item) is sure to please! This (insert name of item) makes a statement and will be a welcome addition to your collection! Don't let this (insert name of item) get away!"
2. In order to get to the links at the bottom of the page, you have to scroll down through a gazillion "similar" or "suggested" listings, and every time you think you've reached the bottom, more load.
3. Sellers will list things with no measurements where measurements are important, or they'll show you the size of something like a picture frame by posting a photo of it with a nickel beside it. Then you have to measure a nickel and figure out how many nickels tall and wide the frame is.
4. Sellers will say, "The photos are part of the description":, then post one photo of a desk for sale that's inside a dark garage and covered with junk. Whee!
twk
·7 months agoLike the rest of you, I am seeing less and less I want to purchase off ebay. this is mainly due to the poor quality of description. Sellers NEED to put in things like measurements and condition of items, not tell me to look at poorly taken pictures.
Imagine what eBay's sell through rate might be if they cleaned up those usless aI descriptions.
kibble-net
·7 months agoImagine what ebay's sell through rate might be if sellers who had no business selling on here, went and took their wares to craigslist or FB marketplace instead.
Everyone wants quick cash, but very few are willing to (1) put in the work, (2) play by the rules, and (3) look introspectively when things don't go their way.
kibble-net
·8 months ago(1) Agreed! As a buyer, when given the opportunity, I buy from people who take the time to describe what they are selling. As a seller, I NEVER use the AI description tool.
(2) Agreed! I wish those would all appear AFTER the listing, not in the middle of it. It also makes buyers more likely to miss my human-written item descriptions.
(3) Fair enough. If a seller doesn't use a banana for scale, I'm out!
(4) Agreed - same as (1) basically. USE YOUR WORDS!
If you're selling something, it pays to put yourself in the buyer's point of view. Ask yourself questions like:
-"What details would be important?"
-"Would I be willing to buy this item given the amount of information included?"
-"Would I be better off donating this to Goodwill, or throwing it out with the trash?"
twk
·8 months agoActually, with AI and the poor description it is getting harder and harder to shop on eBay.
It takes me quite a bit of time to do a listing. I clean and research the piece (being a historian I love that part and cleaning allows me to carefully check it out. I do not do anything that will hurt the integrity of a piece. With sterling silver, for instance, I hand-polish it so that I can see what is underneath all that dirt and tarnish. I also sell linens and I know how to carefully wash then, remove stains in most cases. I even iron them so the buyer knows what they are getting. Guess I'm just old-fashion as well as old.
couturehomecollection
·8 months agoYou said it! eBay has become unbearable with the incessant advertising telling us 100 times in full color on every page that eBay has found the sponsored product "just for us" (at precisely the price we don’t want to pay).
Now, as you and commentators precisely point out, we are subjected to eBay’s nonsensical AI machine spewing the garbage of all the great qualities the item has (that we don’t want to read) and none of the essential details that are vital, such as size, color, and condition.
We need less blowing and sponsored products and more actual work by eBay management and sellers. Coming to eBay used to be fun. Now I feel like a vampire has drained me dry after being spammed and advertised to death. Thank you for your actual contribution to eBay by bringing awareness to the important problems plaguing members.
roccotacodad54
·8 months agoMy solution. If the item is hard to find I'll message the buyer and ask for more information. If I don't get a timely reply or an insufficient one I just pass and set up a "Saved Search" and hope another comes along.
If the item isn't hard to find I pass on bad pictures or AI descriptions. To me either display a lack of concern for me the buyer and possible problems down the road.........................
twk
·8 months agoI hear you and it tees me off too.
pickapaper
·8 months ago@lichtpriester wrote: "Now they sound like they were composed by AI bots"
That's because some of them are. When a seller lists an item, they can write their own description or choose to let AI do it for them. AI uses the info the seller supplies so if there isn't any, the description is pretty generic, i.e. meaningless word salad. Plus, if the seller doesn't bother to read the description, there can be errors, i.e. the description isn't even about the item being listed. For example, AI doesn't know the difference between "goofy cards" and Goofy the cartoon character.
You're right about the lack of measurements and the lack of photos.